A Bird In A Cage
by MagnoliaTree
Summary: Hyuuga Neji isn't the only caged bird, but he does not have time to sing when he is too busy throwing himself against the bars. Orochimaru will prove himself to others, and Itachi will prove his strength to himself. And as for Shikamaru? The stories of the genius, the stories of Konoha, will become legend. A series of character studies.
1. Neji

**This is planned to be a character study of sorts: the first is Neji, but I plan to concentrate on all the so called 'genii' of Naruto. Still I have not much experience with writing, and this seems to have something missing. Updates will be sporadic but I would really appreciate constructive criticism.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to _Naruto._**

* * *

It is two months after Neji makes chuunin, when he refuses to fight Hinata- not spar, not when the Hyuuga council wants her so totally destroyed (and he cannot break his cousin like that, not again, not when she is the last spark of warmth within his clan.)

Five minutes- that's how long that they use _it_ for. It isn't that his seal hasn't been activated before. But previously? Only for a few seconds. Five minutes is stretching it- a lot. Use of the caged bird seal for long periods of time has been known to cause nerve damage to those with weak bodies. Neji may be a genius, but he is _only fourteen_ (and he seems all the younger as he curls up and shakes, thin wooden walls doing nothing to muffle his raw screams)

Maito Gai finds him at his team's training grounds when he comes in the early morning. It is three hours later and Neji's lips are blue- it is a cold morning, and he is still in shock. He rocks back and forth, but Gai holds him still and tries to rub colour back into his unresponsive limbs as his student sobs brokenly about how the elder stood over him with his cold eyes, how it hurt _so much_ and _it didn't stop_ and he thinks it must have broken Hinata too, because he heard her screaming join his, and he wanted to _die_ because he didn't think it would end, not ever. And there is a silent agreement that they will _never_ mention this because if Neji doesn't have his control, then what does he have?

* * *

It is a few more months after that, when Neji is called before the council of Elders (Hyuuga Hiashi is not present) when he is offered the keys to his cage. If he only would consent- the current heir could be sealed, and he would take their place. It would be a sacrifice on their head's part, of course, but he has _failed_ to conceive a son, it is only to be expected.

And like last time, Neji's eyes flash as he tells the Council that Hinata is the last hope that the Hyuuga have left, and they had better damn well start to accept that, even if they somehow want to undermine Hiashi-sama, he won't be the puppet head they need, and neither will Hanabi, and Hinata will_ never bow to them_. At least, he means to say all this, but they activate the cursed seal _again_ and he can only gasp out a few words of defiance through the pain.

This time, it lasts for _far_ longer (six minutes and thirty-eight seconds-he stays sane by counting.) One of the Elders aims a malicious, though not particularly painful, kick at his ribs as they exit and the humiliation _crawls_ over him like thousands of black leeches, sapping his strength until it takes him an hour to pull himself back to his room on his hands and knees.

He will not break again, will not lose his control, and so he tells nobody. The next day his team are doing nothing more threatening than a simple escort mission, so it does not matter that his fingers are still twitching so badly that he does not trust his _jyuuken._

What Neji does not know is that when the mission ends, Gai-sensei goes to the Hokage and _begs_ her to save his precious student from his family, because _they are killing him. _But there is nothing that Tsunade-sama can do, not when her position is still relatively tentative (and even the Sandaime was wary about interfering with the Hyuuga traditions.) And if Gai is always taking him on overnight training trips and long missions and he is unable to spend nearly as much time in the Hyuuga clan compound, it definitely isn't because he is trying to _protect _Neji.

* * *

Three weeks before Hinata's fifteenth birthday (and despite his position as her protector, there are only ten months between them), Neji snaps. The Elder with the ice cold eyes is tearing Hinata apart with the Gentle Fist, breaking her body and self confidence in his bitterness because she_ will _be the next clan head. Neji pushes her away and takes the rest of the man's One Hundred and Sixty Eight Trigrams attack, fighting the instinct to spin into his _Kaiten_ because it will only make the inevitable punishment worse.

This time the Elder deactivates the seal after three and a half minutes, and Neji breathes again, only for him to order Hinata back to her rooms (where she will cry, and then _maybe_ gain a bit more inner strength, a bit more willpower which will enable her to complete her goals.) He turns back to him with _that look_ in his eyes and a cruel smirk on his lips and the torture continues.

Neji hears the screams beginning after five minutes and forty one seconds. At eight minutes and seventeen seconds, he realises that they are his. He loses count thirty six seconds after that- mercifully, he also loses consciousness.

* * *

It is not his own bed that Neji wakes up in the next morning. Nor is he in Gai-sensei's house, where he went after _that night -_the first time. The ceiling is beige and it is _too quiet_, he is in an unfamiliar location and _he can't breathe. _He begins to hyperventilate under the pressure of the fear and the shame which fill his lungs instead of air (Neji tries not to lose his control but he lost it a long time ago to the clan- and that might be the thing that has broken him).

There is a voice murmuring somewhere in the distance, but they know better than to touch him. Still he feels himself breathing almost against his will, mimicking the other person's deep breaths. When he has regained some coherence, Nara releases the _Kagemane_ and steps back. (Why is he at _Nara's_ home, of all places? Why did Hinata bring him here-and he knows it was her, because who else would care?-instead of to her team mates' clans? (Although he supposes they still hold a grudge from _that_ Exam, two years ago, and he can't deny that he deserves it. And that disastrous, scarring, first operation which left him in the Intensive Care Unit means that Shikamaru Nara will be unlikely to _ever _deny him sanctuary.)

It is at this point that he tries to sit up, and his entire body refuses him, painfully. For the first time he is aware of his own self, and it feels as though he has been just shocked with a _raiton_ technique. His nerve endings are aflame and he _cannot move_. Hysterical laughter wracks his body, tearing at his raw throat. (He realises that he has nothing left to give. The clan have stolen his mobility, his pride- what more has he got? His life? They took that when they placed the caged bird seal on his forehead, when he was four years old.)

Nara's indifferent stare is becoming a little concerned. This is what jolts Neji out of his hysteria more than anything because _Nara? Concern?_ For one of that clan to _concern_ themselves with anything means that the situation is more than a little out of the ordinary. Neji thinks that the world must be ending- not that it should matter to him, his world ended six hours ago on the white _tatami_ floor.

He cannot rush to the window to check for fire and brimstone, not in his condition, so he simply listens in disbelief as the Nara stares at him intently (_What?) _and tells him that he has a week's leave and if he needs anything,_ at all,_ then it would be too troublesome to judge him.

* * *

Neji spends most of the next year sleeping on Lee's couch- it isn't as comfortable as his own rooms (how can he say that? They belong to the Hyuuga clan, as does everything else he has ever owned), but it is _safe_. He doesn't brave the clan compound again until Hinata's sixteenth birthday.

He almost shuts his eyes when Hanabi is forced to fight her older sister for the position as clan heir. He doesn't want to watch, but he _cannot_ look away, because if he does it will be the images of his uncle and father projected onto his closed eyelids. The battle is just as painful as he thought it would be- Hinata has barely channelled chakra to her palms in her first attack when her sister shakes her head in some sort of wild defiance and forfeits the fight.

Then the fight turns on the audience as Hinata stands with a snarl over the collapsed and sobbing body of her sister, daring _anybody_ to try sealing her. Neji runs to cover Hinata's blind spot, and it doesn't matter what punishment he may receive later, not when his cousins have just begun to defeat the cruel blood of his clan.


	2. Itachi

**I've had a great response so far, so _thank you_. I just wanted to reassure (perhaps disappointing to some people)- this isn't going to be a NejiShika fic, or ShikaHina, ItaHana or in fact any sort of relationship which doesn't have a direct impact on what I am trying to write about. This is a fic concentrating on the psyche of the 'genii' of _Naruto _and what drives them. I sort of wanted to put Shikamaru's chapter up first, but I had a few very strong ideas here. Some people may not like it as much, but rest assured, Shikamaru is up next, and I actually _like _what I've got for him so far. (Rare.)**

**Thank you so much for people who reviewed, favorited, etc- I love any tips or encouragement I can get- even hate-reviews are appreciated if they help me grow as a writer. One thing- do you think I should get a beta? I'd prefer to skip that step in the interest of speed, but if it's necessary to improve my fic I'll do it.**

**Disclaimer: The rights to _Naruto_ are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.**

Itachi doesn't want to go to the academy. He is only three years old and he knows enough to understand that _normal_ toddlers don't play with live kunai and fire jutsu (Which probably is unusual in itself, not that he has met enough children his age to judge). When the first day arrives he hides underneath his covers and Mikoto has to coax him out.

His father reprimands him. Itachi is _Uchiha _and he must serve his clan to his full potential. He will become a great shinobi one day and the Ninja Academy is the first step to achieving that goal. (It is not _his_ goal, he wants to say. It's _yours. _But he knows better than to antagonise his parents any further.) When he tells his cousin of the incident, he doesn't understand, simply patting him on the shoulder and promising to help him work on stealth.

It is just one year after the Kyuubi attack, and Konoha is still relatively weak, which explains the Sandaime's willingness to allow him to graduate so young when there is not even a war on. War or not, when Itachi graduates the academy he is five, and frightened. (He doesn't want to hurt anybody, but that's what ninja _do,_ right?) He is placed on a team with Shisui and Inuzuka Hana (who holds nothing but disdain for him, though Itachi's heart seems to skip a beat every time she looks his way.) He wants to stay on this team forever.

* * *

His Sharingan activates on Itachi's fifth C-rank mission. A bandit is about to put a rusty sword through Hana's chest, when Itachi uses the Substitution technique. (Whoever said that your life flashes before your eyes was lying, _this_ is his life, all that he has ever learned to do is to fight and sacrifice)_. _Then Shisui stabs a kunai through the bastard's hand.

He should not have informed his parents. Father demands that he be placed on a chuunin ready team to take the next Exam (the petulant four year old in him wants to refuse, but he is bound to fulfil the desires of his clan.) And so Uchiha Itachi is packed off to Kirigakure with a team he does not know, and his father's final words (_make your clan proud, Itachi_) dropping into his stomach like balls of ice.

Itachi makes his first kill in the Mist chuunin exams. Blood runs over his kunai and onto his hand. Red Sharingan lazily spinning, his opponent (A fifteen year old genin from Iwa) thinks that she is looking into the eyes of a demon. Unsurprisingly (this is the _Bloody Mist_, after all), this is enough to earn him a chuunin promotion and a standing ovation from the watching crowd. What they will _never_ understand is how Itachi spends the next two weeks in Sasuke's nursery, staring at his bloody hands and wondering how he will ever be able to look his little brother in the eye.

* * *

When he is eight years old, Itachi is recruited into ANBU (the assassination corps, but there are no other boys who look anywhere near his age in the squad, so he is sometimes asked to work with Seduction on the side. And he is _Uchiha Itachi-_he never refuses a mission.) By now, Itachi does not even bother considering whether _he_ wants to accept their offer- the clan will decide, and he must obey. Still, he cannot bring himself to look his father in the eyes when he is ordered, once again, to _make the Uchiha proud._

He is placed on Hatake's ANBU team at first, but the other shinobi dismisses him without a second glance- Uchiha Itachi has no idea what it means to work in a team, and it is too late to teach him now, he has neither the time nor the effort to spare. (Does he mean that it is too late for _him_? Is he beyond help?) Yet Itachi thinks that there is another layer to the copy-nin's blunt denial- is it a refusal to take a part in creating yet another broken genius? The part of his mind which is still a child (a part which shrinks smaller and smaller with every mission) reluctantly admits that he _sort of _trusts Hatake.

It is impossible to find him any other team. His comrades in ANBU admit that he frightens them a little, (and isn't that odd, the elite of the village-too afraid to approach an eight year old?) so Itachi is left taking missions solo, and often back to back, constantly running from loneliness, regret and guilt which threaten to pull him down somewhere he'll never be able to get back out. _(Is that what happened to Hatake?)_

The ANBU devours his childhood, and then slowly begins to take bites out of his humanity and sanity, which he manages to patch up with minutes snatched with Sasuke, and an ever growing loyalty to Konoha, verging on the fanatic. Itachi acknowledges this, and wonders exactly _when _his devotion to his clan became little more than fuel to the Will of Fire (Maybe, it was the same moment that he realised he _hates _his father for condemning him to this life.)

When he discovers his clan's attempted coup, there is really no difficult choice. Itachi has always had definite priorities- the only thing which comes before his village is his little brother, and Sasuke is blameless in this.

* * *

Itachi discovers the _Mangekyo_ sharingan just one day before he reports all that he has uncovered to the Hokage. Shisui, the only person who has _always _been behind him, charges him with a drawn kunai and an agonized cry. _(You are my friend, Itachi, but between myself and the clan, the clan must come first.) _

Itachi wants to scream, but a true shinobi must kill his emotions. Instead he activates his sharingan. (Shisui is like an unhappy puppet, controlled by the clan, and it is time that his strings were cut. Itachi considers it his responsibility to _free_ his best friend.)

When he feels his eyes changing (At exactly the same time as he hears Shisui choke on one last breath, a ninjato buried deep in his chest), he realises how evil the Uchiha's lust for power truly is.

Itachi _almost_ stabs Danzo when the one eyed advisor suggest massacre as a viable solution to the Uchiha's treason. But slowly, as the one eyed warmonger persuades even the kind Sandaime to his point of view, Itachi remembers the guttural sound of Shisui's last breath. His clan is cursed, and for proof he need look no further than the pinwheel spinning in his own eyes.

Itachi realises that he too has never been anything but a puppet- a pawn in the game of clan politics and the machinations of councils, a slave to the needs of his village. He begs to spare Sasuke, because he loves him, but he also knows that his beloved little brother must be the one to eventually cut his strings.


	3. Shikamaru

**OK... so here's Shikamaru's chapter. He comes off a little bit bratty, but remember he's my favourite character... I'm trying very hard to be unbiased. T be honest, it started off better in my head... but those versions don't go anywhere.**

**Now I know I've had over 100 hits, which is pretty cool. But I'd like some more reviews... if you have time. I'm not demanding them or anything, but... would be nice. Really, really nice. Thank you if you _have_ reviewed- made my day.**

**Disclaimer: The rights to Naruto do not belong to me.**

* * *

Shikamaru knows that he was considered a genius from pretty much the moment he was born. (At first, he doesn't quite understand why, having done nothing really worthwhile in his life. But, as the son of Konoha's jounin commander, how could he not be? His high intelligence wasn't exactly a _surprise_.)

His father begins to teach him to play shogi at the tender age of three, and that is when he_ really_ realises just how far ahead he is in terms of intellect. Shikaku tells him that he'll be a great strategist one day.

As it happens, he doesn't mind- he's good at strategy and it's far less troublesome than physical training like Choji's clan has started him doing.

He'd much rather watch clouds or sleep than learn his family techniques (plus, he _still_ doesn't have enough chakra to learn anything higher than the Kagemane. His dad just looks at him lazily and tells him that if he uses his mind, he'll only ever need the one technique.) but Shikamaru respects his Dad- he's a kind of cool father to have- so he doesn't mind about following in his footsteps at all. Although it does mean an annoying amount of early mornings spent playing shogi, with Shikaku then picking apart every move of the match and explaining _exactly _where he went wrong.

* * *

He is taken aback, but not shocked, when, despite his lazy tendencies, the Hokage personally offers him the chance to enter and graduate the Ninja Academy three years early. _(I'm sure you'll outgrow it, all Nara do. Just look at your father) _In other words, another exception for him, because he is the Nara heir and a 'genius'. He isn't sure how they know this, since he's never actually taken an official IQ test.

He says no, of course. Graduating aged nine would definitely group him with the likes of Hatake Kakashi and Orochimaru of the Sannin. Looking at, well, every genius in Konoha's history… he doesn't want to be that messed up.

Nobody's all that cut up about his refusal- after all, this means that he can graduate with Ino and Choji. The Hokage just smiles and nods when he explains his reasoning (His father tells him, years later, that Sandaime-sama congratulated him on raising such a wise boy.)

When Shikamaru does enter the Academy, he ends up skipping school a lot. It's not really a lack of motivation, it's just that there's nothing that he doesn't really know already. Most of the stuff in the first year is just logic- a shinobi is required to serve his village, the Hokage is leader of the village, and so on and so forth, and chakra control (which he has in abundance. Perhaps due to his lack of large amounts of chakra.)

* * *

It's about halfway through his first year that Uchiha Itachi massacres his clan. His father solemnly informs him the night that the information is released (they couldn't cover it up for long.)All sorts of rumours are flying around school the next day, but he knows the truth, and when Sasuke returns to the Academy after a week, Shikamaru's stomach lurches at the haunted look in his eyes. If this is what a genius does, then he doesn't _ever_ want to be one.

* * *

Shikamaru gets lazier. He says 'troublesome' a lot (only idiots like Naruto have a catchphrase) and skips school, even though they're now learning stuff which he doesn't know. He doesn't even bother to turn up for tests anymore. And it seems to work- nobody in his class calls him 'that genius'. They call him 'lazy-ass' or 'slacker' instead. He likes those titles a lot better, because they're _true_. And they're something that _he_ chose to be.

He falls asleep after one look at the Academy graduation exam, but they pass him anyway, on the grounds of his 'excellent ninjustu and high intelligence.' (Really, it's just code for '_we're making an exception because you're the Nara clan heir, now get out there and start risking your life, sucker.'_) Asuma-sensei snorts when he mentions this to him (he doesn't know why, it's _not_ funny.)

There was never any question about whose team he would be on. There were plenty of speculators, but that was the one thing they all agreed on. (_I suppose they'll put Sasuke with the dead-last, and of course they'll be re-forming the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.)_ This is one thing that he doesn't mind- he genuinely likes Choji, and Ino isn't _too_ troublesome when you know how to appease her.

His sensei is Asuma Sarutobi, and he doesn't seem to mind too much when Shikamaru basically refuses to do anything except play shogi. Instead he slips an IQ test into his ninja registration paperwork (_sneaky bastard_), and never again shuts up about his score. (The low-two hundreds is pretty high, of course, but still. It's not as though his high intelligence has anything to do with his sensei.)

Shikamaru winces slightly every time Asuma pulls out the word 'genius', when he's bragging to Kurenai-sensei about his team.

* * *

Shikamaru makes his first kills during his second C-rank mission. It's kind of scary that it doesn't affect him more, but at the same time, he guesses that, one; he's been prepared for being a shinobi for his entire life, and killing people's a pretty integral part of the job, and two; chucking an exploding tag into a bunch of bandits, and then running like hell from your team mate's giant spinning body doesn't produce the same basic psychological response as, say, stabbing somebody in the chest with a kunai.

He doesn't actually experience real danger until Asuma-sensei nominates his teams for the chuunin exams. That Gaara kid is _seriously_ messed up. Still, his team do well- the first and second exams were pretty much made for them, considering they're a cell specialised for reconnaissance and team combat.

When he finds out that they're having preliminary rounds for the third exam, he kind of wants to quit. But Asuma put himself out on a limb nominating them, and he owes it to him to at least try, especially if his sensei ever wants to impress Kurenai with his teaching prowess. As it turns out, his opponent isn't too hard to beat- most genin-level ninja are weak to strategic attacks. In the final, he also basically defeats his opponent (before forfeiting). He's fairly certain he hasn't done enough to stand out too much, but he might have earned his sensei some 'good teacher' points.

(Which was probably the aim of entering team ten in the chuunin exams anyway. Honestly, he respects Asuma, but his crush is getting a little ridiculous.)

Asuma-sensei's proud of him and his half-victory, but he does sort of wish he hadn't expended all his chakra when he's facing down a patrol of Oto-nin.

* * *

Despite making his sensei proud, Shikamaru is absolutely furious when he gets promoted to chuunin, on the basis of knowing that his chakra reserves are pathetic and how to utilise his one shadow technique. Ino and Choji think it's pretty funny. Shikamaru thinks that it's yet another blatant assumption- that he must have a high enough strategic ability to justify promoting a _twelve year old, _despite him not displaying that much tactical genius, certainly not enough to even out his blatant lack of any actual fighting skills.

Damn.

* * *

It's his first ever mission as a chuunin which really changes his outlook on life, though. Having to be rescued by that crazy Suna girl with the fan stings, but what scares him more than anything is that they almost didn't get there until it was too late.

Two of his comrades (_friends_) are in the Intensive Care Unit because of danger that _he_ put them in. Sure his Dad and Asuma-sensei tell him it's not his fault, but Shikamaru _knows_ it is. Because if he'd just fought _stronger_, thought _faster_, led _better, _maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they did. It was him trying to be an average shinobi, an average guy, which nearly got the people under his command killed.

Shikamaru thinks that maybe, if it helps him to protect his friends next time (even if he's starting to sound a bit like Naruto), being a genius isn't such a bad thing.

.

(He feels vindicated in this decision when he hunts down the bastard who murdered his sensei and _destroys_ him. An average guy wouldn't have been able to do that.)


	4. Orochimaru

**Here is Orochimaru: A lot of people will hate this. I hate this; he's not a sympathetic character. I have also spent comparatively little time trying to understand his psyche. I'm not sure that I really want to...**

**Whether this is actually any good or not, I would like to thank the people who have reviewed. I only have seven reviews; you know who you are. But you should know, any time I read one of them, I dance round the room singing 'I gotta review!'**

**Next up is the beloved Kakashi Hatake, whom I know and understand better. So stick around-**

**Love- MagnoliaTree**

**Disclaimer: The rights to _Naruto _belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

Orochimaru learns every E-rank technique that his instructors teach the class in a matter of minutes. But however much he begs for something more difficult, the sensei will refuse. (_That's very good, Orochimaru-kun. Why don't you go help Toji-kun, he looks like he's struggling...) _After all, what good is it teaching advanced _jutsu_ to some civilian kid who will probably just wash out anyway?

He gets the same sort of attitude from the other kids in his class. As one Aburame logically points out to him, while it's considerate of him to offer advice on improving their techniques, as a clan ninja he has a 98.6 percent chance of making it to at least chuunin, while Orochimaru's odds are seven to one that he won't even pass the academy, so maybe he should concentrate on getting himself to graduation, not his classmates.

He knows he shouldn't let their prejudice get to him (_they're probably just jealous) _but it does hurt a bit when the entire class agrees, loudly. Well, almost the whole class.

Orochimaru doesn't _need _their approval. He'll graduate as top rookie and become a greater shinobi than any of them. He can't wait to see the look on their faces.

His parents are very proud of him when he tells him of this new goal. His mother tells him how lucky she considers herself to have raised a son who'll stand up for himself against injustice, and do whatever needs to be done to prove himself.

This is the last thing that she ever says to him.

* * *

He's not sure for how long he's been sitting by his parents graves when the Sandaime decides to make an intervention. He's not fooling anybody; least of all Orochimaru- the Hokage just wants him back in the Academy so that he can be used as cannon fodder in a few years' time.

Still, some of the stuff he's saying about rebirth makes sense. Maybe he can put this all behind him. If his parents were too weak to stop themselves from getting killed when _he needed them, _why should he carry on thinking about them? Especially when every time another memory is pulled up, it _hurts._

He doesn't have to keep on hurting because of them. Not when he could concentrate on becoming the most powerful ninja in the Land of Fire.

Now there is simply nothing to distract him.

* * *

Orochimaru doesn't try helping his classmates after _that day_. Instead, he focuses all of his energies on completing the Academy curriculum. There's nobody to stop him studying through the night anymore, nobody to hold him back.

The instructors don't want to let him take the Genin Examination so early, but the Hokage intervenes. _That young man is very talented, _he tells the sensei. _Let him try. _Orochimaru can't help a small smirk of self-satisfaction crossing his face as he stares down the exam supervisors.

He graduates aged six, at the top of the class.

* * *

Orochimaru is very satisfied with his team placement. The Hokage is his sensei, and his team mates two skill-less losers so unteachable that nothing will prevent Sarutobi-sensei from concentrating on him, and only him. (Well, maybe calling Tsunade a loser is stretching it. She at least can be useful- but nobody could deny that the Sandaime has nothing to teach her.)

So, when he introduces himself, Orochimaru lifts his chin and meets his sensei's eyes as he proudly declares his goal of learning every technique in the world. He is the Sandaime's favourite student from day one.

* * *

Team Sarutobi is nominated to take the chuunin exams after six months on active duty. Orochimaru smirks- this is the opportunity he's been waiting for, to rise in the ranks and gain power.

He'll be free of his incompetent team mates when he becomes a chuunin. He only hopes that they won't hold him back too much. And if eventually he starts to feel something when he hears Jiraiya whining or Tsunade fussing over her little brother, well, he shakes himself out of it. He will not get attached to a pair of failures.

_Whatever needs to be done. _

Orochimaru kills seven other genin in that exam alone, but this doesn't bother him so much- guilt will only hold him back. What irritates him is the look on his team mates' faces afterwards- they look as if he's somehow _betrayed _them.

_Whatever must be done._

One month later, his entire team passes the chuunin exams.

* * *

Team Sarutobi is disbanded, of course, but for some reason Orochimaru can't bring himself to work with anybody else. He realises that he _almost_ semi-trusts Jiraiya and Tsunade to watch his back.

And so, when war comes rolling back over the horizon, he puts in a request to his old sensei to re-form his team. The look of pride on the old man's face is nauseating.

They are fighting in Rain Country when they end up face to face with _Hanzo of the Salamanders_ himself. After their battle Orochimaru feels one step closer to becoming a legend- a victory only slightly tempered by the fact that he shares it with his team mates.

The team are still in Ame a few months later, when they run into three war orphans. Although it slightly stings Orochimaru to suggest it, (he isn't totally heartless) he knows that a mercy killing would be in their best interests.

Better to end their suffering than to leave them living a life of scrounging for scraps of food and trying to remember what their parents' faces looked like, which, after a period of long, drawn- out misery they will die a probably immensely painful death of starvation, or be ripped apart in the crossfire of some ninja battle.

He knows all too well what it is to be condemned to forever feel that empty ache which isn't (just) hunger.

Instead, his _stupid _team mate decides to do the exact opposite and _train _them.

The one moment since his parents' deaths that Orochimaru is trying to work in the best interests of others, and Jiraiya brushes off his suggestion like it's meaningless.

So be it.

Jiraiya has to realise that if he trains these orphans, this is the end of whatever _understanding_ the two of them may have had.

_Anything that I must do, to prove myself._

On his return to Konoha, he contacts Shimura Danzo.

_And the rest is history._

* * *

**This may not be as good as the others; I'd be surprised if it was. On that merit, I'd love constructive criticism, if you have spare time on your hands. Stick around for Kakashi-sensei-**_  
_

**MagnoliaTree**


	5. Kakashi

**So. Sorry. No excuse- a week and a half, for an update which doesn't even measure to 1.5 K. Disappointing.**

**But I'm trying. And hopefully my teachers will relax a bit in the next few weeks, or I'll get used to the new workload. Like Lee's training weights...**

**Anyway, here's Kakashi. Then Sasuke, then Minato. After that... we'll see. I'll try to keep updates _at least _biweekly. On another note, Orochimaru. Mixed responses there, but how can I write a fic about genii and not include him? And, well, he was a challenge. Maybe once I've had a bit more practice I'll rewrite his entry, make it a bit better...**

**As to reviews, same drill. Thank you, you know who you are...**

**Disclaimer: The rights to_ Naruto_ belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

_The politics of Kakashi's birth was interesting, if slightly disturbing as well._

_Sakumo Hatake knew he needed somebody to pass on the famous white chakra to... however-_

_He wasn't interested in a child._

_In fact, Sakumo wasn't much interested in anything which didn't directly benefit or harm Konoha- he was busy, and the long term benefits of an heir weren't pressing enough for him to ignore his duties as a shinobi. _

_He belonged to Konoha, and while his clan's bloodline limit was pretty much sacred, so was his oath to the Will of Fire._

_He didn't want a kid unless it could look after himself. And so he found a sensible, self-sufficient woman to carry his heir and left her to her own devices for a few years._

_Kakashi didn't understand what was so confusing about the idea when he was trying to explain it to his sensei, years later. After all, the White Fang had time for neither a relationship, nor for potty training some brat._

_And it worked out well for all involved, right?_

* * *

Two year old Kakashi knows his mother isn't very happy when she drops him off at the Hatake family home. (It's not like she has a choice though- she made her decision two years ago and it is clear how little power she has in the matter) The man there (his father?) simply hands her some money and a few papers to sign and shuts the door.

Kakashi decides that his father is all he needs.

Sakumo leaves for a mission a week later, but Kakashi can look after himself. He is two, after all.

When the White Fang returns, Kakashi asks him not to bother sending the genin next time- they're stupid _and_ annoying.

Sakumo looks both pleased and amused by the statement.

* * *

Blood is on his teeth and his tongue and his tonsils. His father's fist is buried in his stomach.

Kakashi is three years old, and he's training. He's going to be a great shinobi, great like Sakumo Hatake- maybe an ANBU captain. _Definitely _an ANBU captain, if he's going to make his father proud.

He knows Sakumo Hatake is a hero. The whole village steps out of his way when he walks along the street. It would be no less than blasphemy to suggest that Kakashi could surpass him- but _maybe_ he can prove himself worthy of walking in his father's shadow.

Everybody knows Sakumo loves him. If he could only convince _himself _of that, maybe it would be easier to go to the Academy in the morning without his Dad. He knows his father won't be in Konoha by the time the sun rises tomorrow- they only train like this (train in a way that _hurts, injures, _a way that is _vicious_), when he has an important mission coming up soon. In these sessions, Sakumo is already focussed on the enemy- he is not Kakashi's father, he is the _White Fang of Konoha_.

Ruthless.

* * *

His Academy _sensei_ always look at Kakashi with concern after one of _those _training spars. Ai-sensei especially will stare at him with her sad, beautiful brown eyes. The tears hovering at the edges of them almost make _him _want to cry. (But he is _Hatake._ He controls his emotions.)

He doesn't understand _why _they're so worried. It's not like he has internal bleeding or anything- and on the rare occasion that something _is _broken, Sakumo always fixes it when he gets back.

Kakashi concludes that the teachers at the Academy are just a little soft.

* * *

He graduates (of course) and is apprenticed under the Yellow Flash (surprising, but there we have it!)

One of the first things that comes with Kakashi's ninja registration is a medical check-up, which he tries his hardest to get out of. (He _hates _hospitals.)

Kakashi leads his new sensei on a merry chase around Konoha, but when the jounin finally catches him in an iron grip, Kakashi is shocked. At first he could dismiss it as _just like training_. But Namikaze-sensei carries him towards the hospital _on his back_ (unnecessary, since it wasn't as though he was going to be able to _escape_).

Kakashi can't help but wonder how long it was since Sakumo touched him for anything other than a training spar.

It turns out that Kakashi does have a fractured rib (not broken, or he would have had it healed beforehand). Minato-sensei demands that it be fixed, even though Kakashi assures him it's not really necessary.

He will always remember the Yellow Flash's words when his sensei asks how it happened.

_This ends now._

Ninja are meant to push their limits when training, and Kakashi doesn't see how it can be different for him- He guesses that the fact he's five probably puts his new sensei off. Minato-sensei will have to stop thinking that he's weak, or Kakashi will _never_ learn anything.

* * *

When Kakashi hears about the upcoming chuunin exams, he asks Minato to be allowed to take part. (Perhaps _'demands'_ would be a better term- Kakashi clearly lays out all the facts- there is no logical reason to refuse his request.)

Maybe the Yellow Flash thinks he's too young, but Namikaze-sensei knows that there is no sense in holding him back for another year. (And if his sensei tries to delay his dream, then he may not ever forgive him.)

He _will_ make his father proud.

Kakashi's inevitable (and it _was_ inevitable- he was trained by two legends, after all) promotion to chuunin is marred by the White Fang's return from his latest mission with alcohol on his breath and disgrace written in every part of his body.

Everywhere in the streets Sakumo, his hero, is looked upon with disgust, and Kakashi cannot help but be disappointed in his father.

Where is the strong, unapproachable, _terrifying _shinobi whom he once knew and worshipped?

* * *

His father commits seppuku just one year later, with Kakashi as a witness. He is glad that Sakumo could regain some of his honour in death.

He does not mourn the figure of shame that his father had become.

Instead he throws himself into his life as a shinobi. The people of Konoha look at him as if this war is _his _fault, but he loves the village. He can at least _try_ to pay off his father's debt.

So Kakashi takes missions. Back to back once the war gets into full swing. Messy civilian assassinations and cruel seduction missions (there are never enough boys his age in the shinobi forces, even if they do lower the graduation age)- the missions which do not require a jounin's skill level, but nevertheless need to be done.

Somewhere in between _not _mourning, and the back to back missions, he asks Minato-sensei to train him for the jounin exams. He knows he won't be able to take the test for a long while yet, but his sensei is the only person he has left. He won't let him go as well.

As a ninja, he ought to kill his connections and emotions, but…

The Yellow Flash does not seem to be just a mentor anymore.

Kakashi wonders when Minato-sensei became more of a fatherly figure than Sakumo ever was.


	6. Sasuke

**Here, I've tried to return a little bit to how I wrote the first chapters. This is odd, this is creepy... but it's Sasuke, so what else was I supposed to do? I think I really need critique on these chapters though- this one and Orochimaru, I'm the most concerned about.**

**Warning, there is some gore, which shouldn't be so surprising if you think about which major events shaped Sasuke. Anyway, it's been fairly hard to write him impartially, as the later manga painted him in a... pretty bad light. I'm trying to work out what made him that way.**

**-MagnoliaTree**

**Disclaimer: The rights to _Naruto_ belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

Blood_ is a very strange thing to a shinobi._

_It is so commonplace to them, so normal that they buy special detergents to remove the stains. And yet it is terrifying. Blood is a danger to them, so integral to their being that the loss of it can kill, destroy a team mate who they may leave dying alone in a clearing far from home._

_For some it scars, a reminder of the memories and nightmares which time cannot erase._

_Sasuke will sometimes stay awake for hours scrubbing the floors of his home. In the hall there is a stain which no amount of soap and water can remove._

_It's all he has left of his parents._

* * *

Sasuke is gasping. Choking in his own blood, his pain and fear. His mother lies cold and still, discarded in the corner like a broken toy. A puppet with its strings cut. His father too- left where he fell. So much cruelty. So much waste.

Sometimes Sasuke feels, when he has these nightmares, that something is trying to warn him. But he discards this as a child's fear. Who is not afraid of losing everything you love?

He loves them, but Sasuke holds no illusions when it comes to his parents. He knows that they will always treat Itachi with more respect, hold him in higher regard. It's just that Itachi is more useful to them, can do more things for them.

Yes, he wishes that they would acknowledge him. But he will never be as good in their eyes.

He tries. He trains hard to make them love him. So that he will deserve their attention. When his father acknowledges him _(Maybe you are my son, Sasuke_), he feels vindicated. A pleasant feeling –hope- wells up somewhere in his mind- maybe he can be strong, and they can be a family.

And then it is all taken away. All in one horrible night.

* * *

Sasuke cannot think because _Itachi has just killed their mother_.

Itachi has driven a _ninjato_ through her chest (one which he watched him sharpen and clean earlier this week, _eagerly_ bringing oil and cloths.)

Rage consumes him. Red and black and flashing (ambulance?) lights. He loses everything but hate, an anguished cry of grief. Sasuke rushes at his brother _(his betrayer_). Hate roils in his stomach, anger makes him sick. Discords of pain clash in his mind. Itachi's flashing, spinning eyes meet his-

And then, all is silent. Sasuke is walking through empty training fields outside the Uchiha compound, Konoha spread out below him like an artist's watercolour. A strained and broken melody meets his ears- his older cousin's flute practise.

All is calm, all is still. His cousin's hair falls to the ground around her, spreading over the grass like a fan as she sits in the centre of the field, the instrument clutched loosely in her hands, eyes closed and breathing deep. She blows out a few high, quivering notes, a look of utmost concentration on her face, one eyelid fluttering slightly.

The flute falls to a ground and the girl gives one final, shuddering gasp as Itachi pulls the kunai from her back. And the nightmare begins.

* * *

Aunt Suzuki positively skips home from work. _I'm back_! She cries blithely, opening the door wide.

_Thadunk._

Her head lands on the floor inside as her body flops onto the doormat. Ninja wire has been strung across the entrance. Upstairs, the three children complaining about their afternoon naps are _never_ going to wake up.

Kosuke Uchiha wakes up in a cold sweat. He sees the person attacking him and slashes with his kunai before his rational mind returns from dreams of his last mission. When he realises that he has killed his own wife, he turns the blade on himself.

The flash of a well polished weapon, carving its way through skin.

The dull metal garrotte wrapped around a neck.

Three toddlers unconcious and drowning in the overflowed bath.

Bit by bit, the murders merge into one. Sasuke hears the voices crying in his head, begging for vengeance. Crying in pain and betrayal. His mind is breaking under the strain. He can feel the cracks forming, growing, chipping away at his sanity. He begs for relief.

Somewhere within his torture, Itachi appears, a cruel and vengeful god whispering in his ear_. _If he were alive, if he were solid, would he dissolve into nothing, melting under the painful heat?And somewhere in the darkness of one of the chasms, deep in his fragmented mind, he hears a voice whisper.

_Very nice, Sasuke. Seventy one hours and thirteen minutes remaining._

* * *

Where is he now? He cannot breathe. He cannot speak. He turns his head, shuts his eyes. The visions are projected onto the back of his eyelids, like some twisted cinema. And, slowly, slowly, he drifts towards his own home, leaving a path of now silent houses and blood stained pavement in his wake.

Sasuke (Itachi?) reaches his father's room first, and draws a kunai.

The weapon is broad, flat and _oh so sharp_. The blood from his father's carotid artery sprays over Sasuke's face and lips as he falls, a question on his tongue and in his eyes.

And the loop begins again.

Over.

And over.

And over.

He wakes in a hospital bed, his brother's words still replaying in his mind.

_Hate me. Despise me. Run away._

What a failure of a son he is.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto sort of reminds him of himself, when he was naïve enough to think that if he could be strong enough, the world would be okay. (_They'll all love me one day, when I'm the best ninja in the Elemental Countries_.)

But Sasuke is not like that, not anymore. And he won't let Naruto realise how much it gets to him. Not even if he has to push him away, and glare, and do basically anything and _everything_ to get the message across. _Leave me alone. I don't need you._

God, he realises how much they hate him for it. Some people, (the ones who don't know better) think it's _cool_. But the ninja look at him and they see _Broken. Threat. _And most people just see _Heartless. Cruel._

What they don't know is that sometimes, Sasuke will leave his dusty apartment and return to the Uchiha district. And he'll lie in the hall there for hours and stare at that blood stain, where Uchiha Mikoto once stood and fell. And he wonders, sometimes, that if she could stare back, what would she think?

He doubts that she'd be proud of him. But he'll still come back.

Because it really is all that he has left, and it's all he ever will have.

* * *

**And- done.**

**Love, MagnoliaTree**


	7. Haku

**I have taken a while to update this story, and no, I do not regret it. I love writing this but I will not write a sub par chapter with no inspiration.**

**That said, I am very happy to get another chapter out before the start of the new year, so here is a short one for you. Haku.**

* * *

Haku lives in a small mountain village near _Kirigakure no sato, _a village always covered in snow and ice. Crops cannot grow there, nor can animals be kept outdoors. There is no future for a child of this place- the men are rough and small-minded, the women angry. Everywhere is bleak and barren and the inhabitants hate every minute they spend, trapped, in the frozen settlement . Even the village's name is despairing-_ Samuzamu_, desolate.

The only light in that dark place is his mother, who loves the snow. She plays with the ice and makes it beautiful, (quite literally) the polar opposite of the harmful influence, which starves the village every winter. And she teaches Haku to do it as well. The ice whispers to him, loving, crooning things- as they mould themselves into beautiful, beautiful shapes. Sparkling crystals which capture the grey sun through the clouds and bring colour and life to Haku's eyes. His mother praises him- _My little boy, you are so clever with the ice. It understands you._

And while the ice is whispering to him, and singing quiet lullabies and victory marches in his head, he forgets about the outside world, and does not hear his father's cry of _devil child! _or his mother's screams until it is too late.

* * *

The world is dark when his mother is not in it. Even the colours in his crystals have deserted him, his blood stained ice will no longer work for him. He has tainted his innocence, and the innocence of nature is forever lost to him. Without the whispers of the ice, Haku's mind seems empty, filled only by longing and hunger. Haku hates life, hates what he has become. Having nobody to serve could be freedom- yet he would not know how to be without a master. Once, he served the ice, but he has been abandoned by all he would follow. Unwanted, unneeded, unnecessary.

In his village, the idea of _surplus_ is a cherished one, the dream which is both the first and last to die. The term was unfamiliar and strange to him- now, he wishes it still were. Outside of requirements, beyond help, he is nothing. Long nights pass, alone with his regret, and slowly the blood in his veins turns to ice. He has learned the true darkness of the world, and he is no longer afraid to be eclipsed by it.

_(I require an apprentice, boy. Become my tool, and I will see to it that you are always needed.)_

When he awakes, he is reborn. And with him, the ice, once his hope and then his despair, becomes his tainted and already bloody weapon. It serves him, now, for he serves another.

* * *

Zabuza is very different from his mother. He is _harsh words and rough fingers_ like the men of _Samuzamu_. But he is not like them. Where once Haku would see only despair and bitterness, in Zabuza's eyes there is a wild sort of hope. Zabuza's eyes say _I can never pay back for the blood I have spilled. But I know that I can change the future, and I only want to make it better. I will stop at nothing to make it better._ In that way, Zabuza is just like Haku. And if Zabuza wants to change the world, then Haku will happily follow him, wherever it may lead. _Like a sheep to the slaughter, _laugh some. But Haku knows enough of slaughter to laugh as well.

_Kill for me_, Zabuza-sama says and Haku fights for him with hot blood and hard fists. He kills from the front with needles and a smile and from the back with ice, where nobody can see. And (literally) for the life of them, nobody else understands how he does it. His ice is so blood stained now that it moves in sharp and shining rivers. The voice that once sang lullabies in his head now whispers to him _riptearkillstab when no one is watching_. Haku will serve and kill for his master until the end of time itself. Their goals are the very same- Haku is the arm by which his most secret intentions are carried out. And if Haku hates needless bloodshed, Zabuza knows what bloodshed is necessary, and he is _so much _Zabuza that it is hard to know what amount of _Haku _is left.

It is so very, very nice to be needed. _My little genius_, Zabuza calls him. _My tool._ Zabuza owns him, because by the act of claiming possession of him, he made Haku give himself up. Haku failed the first person who needed him. He will not fail again.

Zabuza-sama calls him _my tool_. Haku happily repays him, with the title _master_.

* * *

**Do look out for updates on this, and also feel free to suggest people, as I'm running out of ones to write about! Also, have a look for my new story, which should be coming out... soon.**

**Love, MagnoliaTree**


End file.
